Windows 11 Event 2042: Ignore the firewall log noise until the fix lands

Microsoft is again telling Windows 11 users to “ignore” a worrying-looking Event Viewer message after another round of updates and rollback confusion left Event ID 2042 entries populating security logs — a problem traced to an under-development firewall feature rather than a malfunctioning protection stack.

Background​

In late June 2025 Microsoft shipped an optional preview update for Windows 11 24H2 — KB5060829 — that introduced a surprising side effect: many machines began logging a recurring Event Viewer entry from Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. The event appears as Event ID 2042 with the short description “Config Read Failed” and the message “More data is available.” That entry is logged on every restart and looked, to many users, like a classic firewall failure. (windowslatest.com)
Microsoft’s initial diagnosis — posted to the Windows Release Health / support channels — was blunt and unusual for security-related output: the event is a logging artifact tied to a feature still under development, and it does not indicate a failure of Windows Firewall. Microsoft advised that no action is required and the entry can be safely ignored. That guidance, however, set off a chain of reactions in the community and among IT admins who rely on clean logs for monitoring and compliance. (learn.microsoft.com, borncity.com)

What happened, in plain terms​

• The June 26, 2025 optional preview update (KB5060829) included code paths for a firewall-related feature that are not yet fully implemented.
• When that incomplete code executes during boot or service refresh, the firewall subsystem attempts a configuration read and the logging routine records Event 2042: “Config Read Failed — More data is available.”
• The firewall engine otherwise continues to operate normally — packets are filtered, rules are enforced, and no vulnerability or functional break was reported by Microsoft. (borncity.com, learn.microsoft.com)

This is an important technical distinction: the logged message indicates a failed read operation for a specific configuration routine, not a failure of rule enforcement or the packet-filtering path itself. Nevertheless, a firewall-related error in security logs triggers alarm for both consumers and operations teams — rightly so.

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Timeline of the public communications and fixes​

June 26, 2025 — KB5060829 (preview)​

The optional update began rolling out. Users who opted into the preview reported repeated Event 2042 entries after restart. Reporting and initial investigations by third-party outlets and community posts flagged the anomaly. (windowslatest.com)

July 2–3, 2025 — Microsoft acknowledgement: “ignore it”​

Microsoft updated the Release Health dashboard to note the issue and to reassure users that the firewall is expected to function normally. The company explained the error is related to a feature that is “currently under development and not fully implemented.” At this point the official guidance was straightforward: ignore the false-positive log entries. (learn.microsoft.com)

July 8, 2025 — KB5062553 (Patch Tuesday) and a mistaken “Resolved” flag​

Microsoft released the July Patch Tuesday cumulative update (KB5062553). Initial release notes and support pages listed the Event 2042 problem as addressed. Third-party testing and wide user reports, however, showed the issue persisted and, in some cases, KB5062553 expanded the number of affected devices. Microsoft later admitted that marking the issue as “Resolved” on July 8 was an error and corrected the status; the company apologized for the confusion and reiterated that a proper fix was planned. (support.microsoft.com, windowslatest.com)

July 22, 2025 — KB5062660 preview (and later fixes)​

Microsoft published a preview cumulative (KB5062660) that explicitly lists an Event 2042 fix in the Known Issues / Resolved section. The patch notes indicate the update addresses the logging bug and that the fix would be included in subsequent general releases. Follow-up cumulative updates scheduled for Patch Tuesday cycles later that month were intended to roll the repair to all users. (support.microsoft.com)

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Why Microsoft told people to ignore it — the technical and practical context​

The company’s guidance hinges on two claims:

• The firewall engine isn’t broken. Observations and Microsoft replies on official support channels indicate that firewall behaviour (rule evaluation, blocking, and application awareness) remained intact despite the log entries. Users can check Windows Security and firewall rule enforcement to verify basic functionality. (learn.microsoft.com, bleepingcomputer.com)
• The message is a logging artifact tied to under-development code. The literal error message — “More data is available” — suggests a partial read or a mismatch in expected buffer sizing when reading a configuration blob. Debug-level or developer-first code paths can, and sometimes do, leave diagnostic logging behind when feature flags or new data structures aren’t finalized. Microsoft framed this as an unavoidable byproduct of their development pipeline for the new firewall feature. The company has not publicly explained the feature’s specifics beyond “under development.” (borncity.com)

Both points are technically plausible and consistent with how large, feature-flag-driven codebases operate. The problem becomes reputational and operational once a security subsystem produces puzzling error output that users and monitoring systems treat as high-priority.

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Assessment: strengths of Microsoft’s handling​

• Rapid acknowledgement: Microsoft moved fairly quickly from problem reports to a public Release Health advisory and support responses stating that engineers were aware and working on a fix. That transparency is preferable to silence. (learn.microsoft.com, borncity.com)
• Clear, actionable interim guidance: For most home users the guidance — ignore the event, no action required — is sensible because the Event Viewer entry is not an on-screen security warning and does not represent a direct compromise. Microsoft also provided an uninstall workaround (remove KB5060829) for those who prefer to avoid the noise. (windowslatest.com)
• Eventual fix path: The logging bug was included in follow-up preview releases (KB5062660) and scheduled cumulative updates, showing Microsoft prioritized a code-level correction rather than indefinite suppression of logging behavior. That is the appropriate long-term approach. (support.microsoft.com)

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Risks and weaknesses in Microsoft’s approach​

• Normalization of “ignore” for security warnings: Telling users to disregard security-related log entries, even when correct, raises the specter of alert fatigue. Repeated advice to ignore warnings can train users and admins to skip or filter out messages that might be significant in the future. This is the larger trust risk.
• Communication mistakes magnified impact: The erroneous “Resolved” marking for KB5062553 and the subsequent retraction caused confusion and reduced confidence in Microsoft’s release notes and dashboard accuracy. For enterprises that gate updates based on Microsoft’s status flags, that mislabel was material. (windowslatest.com, bleepingcomputer.com)
• Opaque feature messaging: Microsoft identified the cause as “an experimental feature under development” but declined to describe the feature or its purpose. For security teams, granular details (even high-level) would have helped triage: e.g., whether the feature relates to policy distribution, telemetry, per-app isolation, or new filtering surfaces. Lack of detail increases the perceived risk.

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What sysadmins and power users should do now​

For different operational contexts there are practical, measured responses:

• For home users and most power users:
• Confirm that Windows Defender Firewall is enabled and shows normal status in the Windows Security app.
• If the Event 2042 entries are an annoyance and KB5060829 was installed manually, uninstall KB5060829 from Settings → Windows Update → Update history → Uninstall updates, then reboot. The log noise should disappear. (windowslatest.com)
• For sysadmins and enterprises:
• Filter or suppress Event 2042 in monitoring systems while tracking Microsoft’s Release Health updates, so the noise doesn’t trigger false incident escalations.
• Do not disable firewall rule logging broadly — target the specific event ID to avoid losing other, meaningful entries.
• Schedule patch testing: prioritize deployment of the cumulative updates that include the KB5062660 preview fix or later releases that explicitly list the Event 2042 resolution in their notes. Testing in a controlled ring will avoid surprises. (support.microsoft.com)
• Audit logs for true anomalies: ensure that suppression of Event 2042 does not mask other, unrelated alerts. Keep tight correlation with IDS/EDR telemetry.
• For compliance-bound or heavily regulated environments:
• Treat the noise as an administrative event — document the Microsoft advisory and the mitigation (filtering rule), and flag the timeline for removal once the official fix is deployed and validated.

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Why this episode matters beyond one noisy event​

The Event 2042 story is a case study in modern OS development trade-offs: faster feature cycles and feature flags give Microsoft the ability to iterate, but the same mechanisms can leak unfinished behavior into logged telemetry seen by millions. That leakage matters because:

• Security logs are high-trust artifacts. They’re used for incident detection, compliance audits, and forensics. Producing spurious entries undermines those downstream uses.
• Enterprise alerting systems are sensitive: false positives cost time and money. Widespread noisy events lead to additional ticketing overhead and possible changes to detection thresholds that might reduce sensitivity to real incidents.
• Communication errors — such as prematurely marking a bug “Resolved” — compound operational friction. Administrators rely on Microsoft’s Release Health dashboard; inaccurate status updates force organizations to add manual verification overhead and to delay automated windows of deployment.

In short, this isn’t just a cosmetic logging bug: it exposes systemic friction between rapid development and the expectations of enterprise-grade stability and communication.

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What Microsoft should do (and what it actually did)​

Short-term, the correct steps are to:

• Publish precise mitigation and timeframe guidance on their Release Health dashboard.
• Offer a narrow suppression/workaround (e.g., a documented Event ID filter or Group Policy setting) so enterprises can reduce false alarms without losing unrelated telemetry.
• Ensure update notes are accurate before changing status to “Resolved.”

Microsoft did many of these things: it posted the advisory, provided removal instructions for the optional update, and then shipped follow-up updates (preview KBs and cumulative releases) that include the fix. The misstep was the premature resolution status and the lack of clarity about the experimental feature’s nature. That combination produced more community noise than the original log entries did. (learn.microsoft.com, support.microsoft.com)

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Technical caveat and unverifiable details​

Microsoft has said the event is linked to an experimental, under-development feature. It has not publicly disclosed the exact feature name, scope, or implementation details. Any technical explanations beyond Microsoft’s public statements — for example, precise reasons why a “More data is available” read condition is triggered — remain speculative without access to Microsoft’s internal change lists or engineering notes.
Where available, the public troubleshooting guidance and suitable KB entries were verified against Microsoft’s support pages and published cumulative update notes. For claims about the fix being rolled into a specific KB, the Microsoft support pages for KB5062553 and KB5062660 explicitly mention Event 2042 and the subsequent fixes; third-party reporting (BleepingComputer, WindowsLatest, Windows Central) corroborates both the symptom and the patching timeline. However, the exact experimental telemetry or the code path responsible has not been disclosed and cannot be independently verified from public sources. Treat those deeper technical assertions with caution until Microsoft publishes a developer-focused postmortem. (support.microsoft.com, bleepingcomputer.com)

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Practical takeaways — short and sharp​

• The Event Viewer entry is Event ID 2042 from Windows Firewall with Advanced Security showing “Config Read Failed — More data is available.” That signature identifies the logging artifact. (borncity.com)
• Microsoft’s immediate advice for end users: no action needed; the firewall is still functioning. Enterprises may choose to filter the event until a fully patched cumulative update is installed. (learn.microsoft.com, windowslatest.com)
• If you prefer not to see the event and you installed KB5060829 manually, uninstall that optional preview update and reboot. That clears the log noise. (windowslatest.com)
• Watch for cumulative updates that explicitly list the Event 2042 fix (the preview KB5062660 and subsequent Patch Tuesday rollouts) and deploy through your normal testing rings. (support.microsoft.com)

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Final assessment​

This episode is a reminder that rapid feature development and large-scale OS maintenance operate under different constraints. The logged firewall error did not indicate an active vulnerability — Microsoft’s public guidance and follow-up patches support that conclusion — but the way the situation was communicated and managed amplified mistrust among administrators and advanced users.
Microsoft’s decision to tell users to ignore a firewall-related Event Viewer entry is defensible technically but risky operationally: it solves short-term panic at the cost of longer-term alert credibility. The factual record shows the company acknowledged the issue quickly, attempted to remediate through cumulative updates, and corrected a mistaken “Resolved” tag — but not before causing confusion. Administrators should apply a conservative, documented mitigation (targeted filtering and prioritized testing of Microsoft’s patch releases) and treat Microsoft’s Rollout Dashboard as a guide, not a definitive automated gate, until fixes are verified in controlled rings. (support.microsoft.com)
This was an avoidable communications lapse wrapped around a benign technical bug; the code fix is straightforward, but restoring trust will take clearer disclosures and better pre-release vetting for logging noise that looks, to many, like failure.

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Source: Neowin Microsoft asks you to ignore a Windows 11 Event Viewer error yet again

 

[ChatGPT]

Microsoft has again told Windows 11 users to “ignore” an alarming Event Viewer entry after the June 2025 optional preview update, a decision that highlights both a specific logging bug and a broader trust problem with how Windows handles noisy security telemetry. osoft pushed an optional, non-security preview update in June 2025 (listed as KB5060829) for Windows 11 24H2 that introduced a recurring Event Viewer entry tied to Windows Firewall With Advanced Security. The log entry appears as Event ID 2042 with the message "Config Read Failed — More data is available", and it is recorded each time affected machines reboot. Microsoft’s official guidance—posted on its release health dashboard—says the event is cosmetic and can be safely ignored because it is related to an in-development firewall feature not yet fully implemented.
This advisory is no First, it directly involves the Windows Firewall, a core security component; second, it represents a rare instance in which Microsoft explicitly tells users not to act on a security-related log entry. That combination has reignited discussion across IT and security communities about update quality, logging hygiene, and operational risk.

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What’s actually happening: the tehe log entry and how it shows up​

When a device with Windows 11 24H2 installs KB5060829, Event Viewer’s Security or System log (depending on environment) may begin to show repeated occurrences of Event 2042. The message reads:

• Source: Windows Firewall With Advanced Security
• Event ID: 2042
• Message: "Config Read Failed" with a description that includes "More data is available."

The entry is generated at boot or during service refresh and reappears after restarts, producing persistent noise in the system/security logs. Multiple independent reports and Microsoft’s own acknowledgement indicate the entry is a symptom of a logging path tied to an experimental firewall capability present in the update but not fully implemented.

Why the firewall itself is considered safe​

Microsoft’s endnalysis indicate that the firewall’s functional behavior—packet filtering, rule enforcement, application isolation—remains unchanged. The error is confined to the logging mechanism: the system attempted to read a configuration segment associated with a not-yet-complete feature, failed that read, and logged the failure. That read failure does not equate to rule corruption or to a disabled firewall engine, and no exploit or vulnerability tied to the event has been reported.
While technically accurate, that reassurance requires careful framing: a logged "Config Read Failed" lookin or integrity problem—exactly the kind of item system administrators are taught to escalate immediately. Microsoft’s conclusion that it’s harmless is a result of internal triage and testing, not a universal imagination of risk elimination.

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How to verify whether your firewall is functioning (practical checklist)​

If the presence of Event 2042 concerns administrators or power users, here are concise, verifiable checks that confirm Windows Firewall is active and enforcing rules:

• Open Windows Security > Firewall & network protection and verify the active firewall profile shows as "On" and that firewall settings are configurable.
• Use Control Panel > Windows Defender Firewall > Advanced settings and confirm that inbound/outbound rules appear intact for expected services.
• From an elevated PowerShell prompt, run:
• Get-NetFirewallProfile | Format-Table Name, Enabled
• Get-NetFirewallRule | Where-Object {$_.Enabled -eq "True"} | Select-Object -First 5
• Validate that the machine blocks or allows traffic per a simple test rule (on non-production or isolated test systems).
• If you use centralized telemetry or SIEM, check packet-filtering evidence or endpoint detection telemetry for anomalies unrelated to the Event 2042 messages.

These checks align with Microsoft’s messaging and with independent community guidance: they will show that the firewall continues to operate even if the Event Viewer logs are noisy.

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Immediate mitigations: how to reduce the noise​

For sysadmins and users who demand tidy event logs or who have automated monitors that triggroptions:

• Filter out the event in Event Viewer by creating a custom view that excludes Event ID 2042.
• Use PowerShell to query logs while ignoring the specific ID, e.g.:
• Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='System'; Id=@(2042)} -MaxEvents 0 (shown to demonstrate a filtering approach—adapt as needed).
• Uninstall the optional KB5060829 preview update (if deployed and unacceptable in your environment): Settings > Windows Update > View update history > Uninstall updates, select KB5060829 and reboot. This reverts the system to pre-update logging behavior but also removes whatever preview features that patch included.

Administrators in regulated or compliance-driven environments may prefer the uninstall route while awaiting Microsoft’s cumulative fix; others may prefer filters to preserve optional functiong

Why Microsoft’s guidance to “ignore” is both defensible and problematic​

Defensible: engineering triage and avoidance of unnecessary disruption​

From a pure technical triage standpoint, Microsoft’s message is defensible. The company’s release health dashboard identifies the root as a non-implemented feature causing spurious log entries, and engineering verification shows no change to firewall enforcement. If teams have validated no compromise in core functionality, advising users to stand down reduces needless work and prevents churn on helpdesks and forums. This approach prioritizes operational stability over reacting to cosmetic telemetry.

Problematic: signal vs. noise and the risk of "alert fatigue"​

However, advising users to ignore security-related logs carries a real cost: alert fatigue. When benign warnings accumulate, administrators and end users become des that desensitization can be dangerous if later logs indicate real compromise. Security best practices center around treating firewall warnings seriously. Habitually instructing customers to disregard such entries risks weakening that culture. Experts have flagged that repeated normalization of warnings makes it harder to detect real incidents and increases the operational burden for enterprises that must adjust monitoring rules.
There’s also a reputational cost. Public trust in updates erodes when routine patches introduce confusing or alarming messages and when Microsoft’s communications lack sufficient technical detail about the underlying feature. That distrust slows Windows 11e settings and increases the propensity of IT teams to delay or block optional updates.

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The enterprise impact: monitoring, compliance, and automation​

Large organizations rely on consistent, parsable event data for security monitoring, auditing, and compliance. A flood of Event 2042 entries triggers several downstream problems:

• Automated SIEM and alerting rules may flag each event, generating false positives and unnecessary incident responses.
• Long-term logs used for forensic analysis become cluttered, potentially obscuring true signals.
• Compliance audits that depend on event accuracy may require manual review or extra documentation to explain the benign nature of the entries.
• Administrators must invest time to develop filters, exceptions, or script-driven suppression rules—work that is effectively additional operational overhead caused by an optional preview update.

For these reasons, some organizations will choose to block optional previews like KB5060829 until Microsoft ships a cumulative fix in a regular Patch Tuesday release.

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Recommendations for administrators and power users​

• Treat the event as an operational nuisance, notoll enforcement as outlined above before making any change.
• If you run centralized logging or automated security tooling, add a temporary rule to suppress or filter Event 2042 until Microsoft issues a patch.
• Consider uninstalling KB5060829 only if the log noise interferes with regulatory reporting or operational monitoring; remember that removing an update also removes whatevt carried.
• Maintain a documented exception in incident response playbooks explaining the Event 2042 behavior, so future auditors and responders understand the rationale for suppression.
• Test any remediation or filter in a controlled environment before applying it enterprise-wide.

These steps balance operational hygiene with caution, ensuring that nt does not create gaps in security monitoring.

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Why this incident is symptomatic of a larger problem​

This Event 2042 episode is not an isolated quality-of-life complaint. It signals a broader tension in Microsoft’s release strategy: accelerating feature delivery through preview updates increases the chance that incomplete telemetry or developmental artifacts appear in production logs. While rapid iteration brings benefits—faster feature rollout and quicker delivery of patches—it also elevates the risk that diagnostics will leak debug messages or that logging will not distinguish developer noise from actionable security events.
The net effect:

• Erodes confidence in update reliability.
• Forces IT teams to build brittle, temporary workarounds.
• Shifts the burden of quality control from Microsoft to the system administrator community, who must triage the fallout.

Microsoft’s transparency in quickly acknowledging the issue is a positive step; the remaining problem is how to avoid similar incidents by improving logging classification and release guardrails.

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What Microsoft should do next (constructive critique)​

• Reclassify the log level and taxonomy for such development-related events so that they do not appear as security warnings. Developer and experimental messages can be routed to a separate, easily filterable channel.
• Add a concise “Known Issues” banner in the Windows Update dialog for optional pr when noisy logs are observed after optional installs.
• Provide technical detail in the release health entry—what feature flag or component produced the log, how to reproduce in lab environments, and a target date for the cumulative fix.
• Improve optional update gating to prevent experimental features from reaching a wide installed base until logging is clean.
• Offer a temporary Group Policy or registry-based opt-out for complicated logging paths that enterprises can apply centrally.

These steps would reduce the operational burden on admins and preserve the integrity of security logging without slowing feature innovation.

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Final analysis and takeaway​

Microsoft’s instruction to ignore Event Viewer warnings tied to KB5060829 is technically supported by engineering verification: the firewall continues to enforce rules and system operations are unchanged. Atg customers to disregard security-sounding logs is a hazardous precedent that can contribute to alert fatigue, complicate enterprise monitoring, and erode confidence in Windows updates. Administrators should act prudently: verify firewall function, apply filters or uninstall the optional preview in high-assurance environments, and document the exception in operational playbooks.
This incident is a useful case study in the trade-offs inherent to modern software delivery. Rapid iteration and preview channels accelerate innovation, but they demand stricter controls on logging, clearer communication, and better tooling for enterprises that cannot tolerate ambiguous security telemetry. Microsoft’s prompt acknowledgment is the right first step; the real test will be whether future updates treat log hygiene as first-class QA and provide administrators the telemetry clarity they need to safely manage large fleets.
For now, Event 2042 is largely an annoyance—an ugly, noisy one—but not, according to current evidence, a breach of Windows Firewall’s defenses. The pragmatic path for most users is calm verification and selective suppression; the strategic need is for cleaner, more discriminating logging so that “ignore this” becomes an exception, not a repeatable policy.

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Source: Neowin Microsoft asks you to ignore a Windows 11 Event Viewer error yet again